


Memories of a November Day

by Yrindor



Series: The Doctor and the Hawk [6]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Anniversary, Asexual Character, Doctor Midorima, Established Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, M/M, Neurodiversity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:44:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4629117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year, Midorima and Takao watch Shūtoku compete in the preliminaries for the Winter Cup.  Every year, they go back to where it all began.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories of a November Day

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.

There was a decided hint of winter in the air as Takao and Midorima walked down the busy sidewalk. Midorima was bundled up in a heavy jacket, scarf, and gloves and complaining about the cold as usual. Takao wore only a light jacket and scarf, loving the feel of the crisp wind in his hair. He seemed even more energetic and excited than usual, and with good reason. It was the one day a year when Midorima would let him hold hands in public without complaint, and he was taking full advantage of it.

They had just finished eating lunch at one of their old haunts from high school, one of the few that was still open a decade later and still palatable even though they were no longer ravenous high schoolers on a budget. Now, they joined the growing crowd streaming towards the basketball stadium to watch the preliminary matches for the Winter Cup.

Shūtoku was playing their first match that afternoon, and Midorima and Takao always tried to see that game in person, even if doing so required Midorima to agree to take over a weekend night shift in return for the afternoon off. So far, they had made it to the game every year except the first year of Midorima's residency when he had practically been living in the hospital. That year, Takao had recorded the game when it aired, and he and Midorima had watched it several days later when the doctor-in-training finally managed to escape from the hospital for long enough to do something other than sleep.

If they both had an afternoon free, they sometimes went to see Shūtoku play other games during the season, but the first Winter Cup preliminary match was the only one they tried to attend without fail. It was the game that marked their anniversary, or rather, the day they had chosen to be their anniversary. They had initially struggled to find one, since there was no clear starting point for their relationship. It hadn't grown in the traditional way; there had been no bouquets of roses, no dinners out at fancy restaurants, no awkward meetings over coffee, just years spent in one another's lives until, one day, they realized that neither could imagine life without the other.

To make their anniversary the day they finally noticed and made their relationship official felt forced, because their relationship had started long before that. After some discussion, they finally settled on the day Shūtoku played in its first preliminary match for the Winter Cup, because the preliminary match between Shūtoku and Seirin during their first year marked the first time Midorima had passed to Takao, and really, that had been the start of their relationship. The date of their anniversary changed slightly every year depending on the basketball schedule, but neither of them cared, since the date mattered far less than the event.

Returning to the stadium where they had played so many times, and walking down the familiar hallways and past the familiar locker rooms always made them nostalgic, and today was no exception. Takao thought back to the day he and Midorima had announced their relationship to their circle of friends. It was at the end of their second year of university, and it seemed that they had been the last to know. Momoi hadn't been at all surprised, but given her penchant for observation and analysis, that didn't surprise either of them. They had been surprised, however, when Kise pouted and counted out a handful of coins into Aomine's outstretched hand. Apparently Kise had bet that the two teammates were together but keeping the relationship a secret for reasons that would not have been out of place in the dramas he loved, while Aomine maintained that the green-haired tsundere was simply too oblivious and self-absorbed to notice the obvious.

Akashi had not been there for the big announcement, but Midorima had arranged to have dinner with him the same night. He had originally planned to make the announcement over dinner, but his nerves got the better of him the moment Akashi walked in the door. "Akashi, there's something important I'd like you to know,…" he had begun without preamble.

"Ah, I see you and your roommate have finally acknowledged the true nature of your relationship, Shintarō," Akashi had replied, not even waiting for Midorima to finish. Midorima hadn't seemed at all surprised by Akashi's statement, but it had unsettled Takao. To make matters worse, when Akashi had left after dinner, he had slowed as he passed Takao and said quietly enough that only Takao could hear, "Shintarō is and always will be my vice-captain. I will let you have him, but if you ever hurt him…know that I will know, and I never forgive those who deny me, Kazunari. I am absolute." Takao had sworn his Hawk Eye was playing tricks on him as Akashi spoke, because he had had the distinct sense of two men standing before him with fire in their eyes, but they spoke as one. In the face of the full force of Akashi's Emperor Eye, Takao felt as if all the deepest, darkest corners of his mind had been stripped bare and laid out before him, and he was certain that, if he had not already been leaning on the counter, he would have ended up on his knees.

Then the sensation passed as suddenly as it had begun, and Akashi continued to the door as if nothing had happened, thanking them both for the invitation to dinner and congratulating them on their new relationship. Takao had breathed a sigh of relief as he locked the door behind their guest. He found Akashi's icy intensity to be unnerving at the best of times, but having the full force of Akashi's power focused on him in warning was a new level entirely, and one he hoped never to repeat.

Sometimes, Takao wondered whether his boyfriend's seeming immunity to Akashi's intensity was a result of his personality or the result of a tolerance he had built up over the years. Takao knew that Midorima and Akashi had been practically inseparable in middle school, and his boyfriend had stuck with Akashi through some difficult times, which had led to Midorima being both incredibly protective of Akashi and intensely respectful of him. If Akashi's actions that first night were any indication, the protectiveness went both ways.

Takao shivered and forced himself back into the present. Even now, nearly ten years later, the memory of Akashi's warning made his hair stand on end.

"Are you all right, Takao?" Midorima asked, squeezing Takao's hand. "You seemed a bit out of it there for a moment."

"I'm fine, Shin-chan. Just taking a walk down memory lane. Let's go find seats; the game should be starting soon," Takao replied, dragging his boyfriend toward one of the many entrances to the court. He had a hard time believing it, but it was already their seventh time watching the game, and he hoped there were many more yet to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a question on Tumblr about how Midorima and Takao shifted from roommates to boyfriends.
> 
> As always, comments are welcome and appreciated.


End file.
